Megaman Zero: A Century Long Sleep
by Viewtiful Zero
Summary: This is the story of Zero, the Legendary Reploid that fought together with X during the Elf Wars. He vanished a hundred years ago, but now he's been awakened again. He'll fight for those that woke him up, even if it's against his oldest friend...


_-Alright, let me just get this over with..._

**_I claim ownership to nothing in this story, the characters and the majority of the story belong to Capcom._**

**_This is strictly a fan made work, please support the official release._**

_-Please comment with criticism and just...well, comments in general really. Just let me know what you think about this pilot chapter, what you liked, what you didn't like, ect. _

_-Hope you enjoy! (I'll try and update at least once a week, earlier if I can and if people want me to.)_

Chapter One: Awakening

"Puff, puff, puff!"

A blonde girl panted running as fast as she could, seemingly trying to outrun something. A small light floated by her head, matching her pace and several soldiers dressed in green escorted them. Two of them stopped moving and turned around, firing at an unseen enemy.

"Go on without us! We'll try to slow them down!"

As they fired into the darkness of the jungle a large number of blue Mechaniloids emerged, rushing them. The soldiers' bullets were ineffective against the Mechaniloids' armor. Raising their right arms they fired multiple three round bursts of Buster shots at the soldiers, killing the two who stayed behind.

Moving on, the Mechaniloids began to catch up to the blonde girl and her escorts. Three more soldiers turned back, "Keep moving! We'll hold them off!"

They fired on at the approaching enemies, doing almost no damage to the oncoming foes. With no hesitation, the Mechaniloids dispatched the soldiers with their Busters. Taking them all out with three round bursts from their sub machine gun arms.

"Waaaaaaaa!"

Inside a base somewhere nearby, rows and rows of giant Mechaniloids were being activated. Released from their holding stations the Golems rush out into the jungle. Another group of soldiers had the bad luck of running into them first, "Wha! What kind of monsters are these!"

They all fired hopelessly at the giant Golem as it stopped to charge its laser cannon. Seeing death approaching, one soldier broke ranks and tried to escape, but to no avail. The Golem swept its laser forwards, wiping out all of the soldiers before it. It then continued forwards, passing the bodies of the soldiers by.

"Puff, puff, puff!"

The blonde girl panted as she and the remaining members of her party continued to evade the advancing enemy forces. She halted as they reached a large blue door with crisscrossing silver latches. She looked around, still breathing heavily, trying to find another route. "Puff, puff, a dead end!"

The tiny light floating by her head paused for a moment in thought before speaking, "No. I feel a strong energy inside. This must be the place."

The blonde girl was about to respond when a voice echoed inside her mind, "_Who are you?"_

She looked around; trying to find the source of the voice, but nobody had spoken aloud.

"_Why do you want to wake me from my sleep? Go away; let me rest in peace…"_

The girl responded out loud this time, "What are you talking about?"

The small light looked at her questioningly, "Is something wrong?"

She shook her head, "No, it's nothing…"

One of the soldiers stepped forwards, "Okay. Leave this to me! Stay back Ciel."

As he planted explosive charges on the door, the blonde girl, Ciel, backed up to a safe distance. Still trying to figure out whom it was that she had heard inside her head. It couldn't be him, the one they were currently searching for….Could it? Her thoughts were interrupted as the soldier detonated the charges, blasting the door down. As they entered the open space beyond the doorway the other soldier turned back. "You should go. I'll take care of them!"

Ciel, the small floating light, and the other soldier continued into the middle of the area the door had sealed off. They now stood in a massive area, it was almost like stepping into a different world in this place of broken machinery, stagnant water, and rust. In the center of the space there was a broken hibernation cocoon, a red humanoid figure in the spot where its center once was. The red figure was kneeling forwards with its hands behind its back, a large number of cables coming from its back. It almost looked as though it was being held in place against its will, some sort of prisoner of an eternal, synthetic sleep. The soldier stopped a few meters away from the red figure, "This must be….."

Ciel was silent as she observed the sleeping form in awe, how long had it been here for? Everything around it had broken down and rusted away, leaving the lone figure alone in a space of broken machinery. How many years had it been since it had opened its eyes? Upon careful inspection Ciel made out a male face, surrounded by a red and black helmet that was worn apart. A ponytail of blonde hair, similar to her own, trailed out of a gap in the back of the red male's helmet. "This…must be Zero…"

The soldier looked at Ciel in disbelief and then back to the sleeping figure, "We found him at last!"

He tried to approach the figure, but he was thrown back by an invisible force field that protected "Zero's" sleeping form. "Waaaaa!"

The small light by Ciel's head noted, "It's protected."

The soldier shook the numbness of the shock from his body, "What should I do…"

As they pondered how they would get past this barrier a scream echoed from the doorway, "Waaa!"

The soldier that had volunteered to guard the entrance had been taken out by the advancing Mechaniloids. Stepping over his lifeless form they zeroed in on Ciel, firing a burst of Buster shots at her defenseless body. The last soldier jumped into the way of the bullets, "Watch out!"

They all made contact with his body and he felt intense pain in his upper body where the shots had hit him, but he didn't let himself succumb to the pain. He would protect Ciel no matter what! He had made a promise to himself before this mission had started that even if he didn't, he would somehow make sure that Ciel would return to their base safely. "We are cornered! We have to leave now!"

Ciel hesitated, looking back at the sleeping form of what she knew to be Zero. "But…"

The soldier fired at the advancing Mechaniloids, trying to buy them enough time to find a way out of here. "We have no time to argue!"

As he tried to push the oncoming enemies back a three round burst hit him square in the chest, "Arghhh!"

He fell onto his back, knowing that he was finished and as he hit the ground he could hear Ciel scream his name, "Milan!"

He couldn't even turn his head to look at her, he could only think: "_Don't cry Ciel…..Everything will be okay somehow….I promised…"_

Before he fully left this world he heard a voice inside his head, the same voice that had spoken to Ciel when they first found the entrance to this place. "_You did well; you fought for the person you believed in until the end….. I'll take over from there….._

His eyes closed for the final time and he died as the voice reassured him that his promise would be kept, even though he wouldn't live to see it fulfilled. As Ciel fell to her knees next to Milan's body, the hovering light whispered her name, "Ciel…."

Ciel couldn't hear the voice; she was too shocked by Milan's death. He had been through so much with her, they had gotten out of tight scraps before, but now…..he was dead. And…it was all her fault.

"Ciel!"

"Huh?"

Ciel snapped out of her daze at the sound of the cyber elf's voice, returning to reality. They had to find some way to wake Zero up or else they would die here with Milan. How would they get past that barrier though? Suddenly the cyber elf saw the only solution, "You should use my power! You have no choice!"

Ciel stuttered as the Mechaniloids drew closer with every second that ticked by, "What! Passy… If I do, you'll be…"

Passy looked at the imminent demise that was getting closer with each passing moment and then she looked back at Ciel, "Don't worry about me. Remember, everyone is waiting for your safe return!"

Ciel was silent for what felt like an eternity as the Mechaniloids that had slaughtered almost every member of their mission party crept closer and closer, until Ciel finally made her decision. "Okay. Thank you."

Passy rested her body against Ciel's outstretched palm, bracing herself for the coming energy surge that would mark the end of what she considered a "happy life". "No. I should thank you, Ciel. Good-bye…"

Ciel felt Passy explode forwards on a collision course with the energy barrier, "Passsssyyyyyy!"

Passy slammed into the energy barrier, pouring out all of her power into the energy field that she had now melded into and overloaded it with her very life. The barrier flashed three times and then finally blinked out of existence, resulting in an explosion of blinding white light. The red figure that Ciel and Milan had called "Zero" stood and Ciel could see that all of the broken parts of his armor had been repaired. His helmet was in perfect shape, with a green gem in the center of its forehead section. Ciel watched in awe as he stood up for the first time in what had to have been countless years. "Zero… has been resurrected…"

The one Ciel called "Zero" stood in silence, taking in his surroundings. Ciel was hesitant to speak to what she saw as the legendary Reploid Zero, but she had to get his attention or else Milan and all of the others' sacrifcices would be in vain. "Zero? Help me. Please."

"Zero" was silent, he looked at her and then down at the lifeless body of Milan. He gave a slight nod before dropping into a fighting stance. Without another word he took point, dashing forwards into the incoming wave of enemies with Ciel following close behind him. This was the first day in a century that he had heard a voice crying out for help and even though he didn't know it, protecting people was what made him who he was.


End file.
